How should the government tackle the problem of unemployment?
The UK government has caused some controversy this week with the announcement of schemes which will see graduates paid to work overseas on projects such as building schools and a £1 billion fund to effectively create "non-jobs" to give young unemployed people experience in the workplace. The schemes are funded by UK taxpayers at a time when the vast majority of UK taxpayers are struggling to make ends meet and concerned about their own jobs. So is this the right way to reinvest into the UK economy?
This is a very difficult situation for the UK government because without investment, in whatever form, back into the UK economy the jobs market will take longer to turn around and the unemployment number will continue to rise. However, should the government be spending billions of pounds creating "non-jobs" to give people experience or should they be investing into viable businesses to safeguard jobs which are already there?
In reality the answer to this quandary lies somewhere between the two strategies as there is a need to both safeguard existing jobs and also ensure that those looking for employment do not lose faith and slip into a lifetime benefit. Whether the government has got it right at the moment is open to debate.
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